Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com –  In Egyptian mythology, few plants hold as much significance as the blue lotus, a captivating water lily featured prominently in some of archaeology’s most important finds.

When King Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in 1922, researchers discovered its petals draped over his body, and its flowers frequently appear on ancient papyri scrolls. Scholars have long speculated that these lilies when soaked in wine, released psychedelic properties used in rituals involving hallucinations and sexual activities dating back approximately 3,000 years.

Credit: Diego Moran/UC Berkeley

Interestingly, a plant resembling the blue lotus is now marketed online as a calming flower that can be smoked or infused into tea. However, according to Liam McEvoy—a fourth-year UC Berkeley student majoring in anthropology with a minor in Egyptology—there is an issue: the blue lotus revered by ancient Egyptians and the water lily sold online are entirely different species.

McEvoy has dedicated much of his academic career to studying Nymphaea caerulea—the esteemed Egyptian blue lotus. He has explored rare plant procurement communities on platforms like Reddit to locate this plant today and delved into hieroglyphic translations to trace its historical presence. Collaborating with the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics and chemists’ assistance, he compared authentic specimens from the UC Botanical Garden with those available on online marketplaces such as Etsy.

McEvoy’s research reveals that these ancient Egyptian plants differ significantly from those sold online and suggests that Egyptologists may have misunderstood how this psychoactive blue lotus was consumed along the Nile River thousands of years ago.

“I knew from the very beginning this was going to be my Berkeley thing,” McEvoy said. “I wanted to let the plant tell its story and contribute to a discussion where there’s all this pseudoscience floating around—pseudoscience that makes some people a lot of money.”

McEvoy’s quest to explore the mysteries of the blue lotus began with an intriguing dive into YouTube. Approximately five years ago, during his high school years, he discovered a BBC series titled Sacred Weeds from 1998. This program featured quirky tie-dye scene transitions and a somewhat questionable study protocol.

In one episode, anthropologists invited two volunteers to an expansive manor in the English countryside. There, they offered them a goblet of wine infused with lily and discussed the potential risks and excitement associated with what they described as the inaugural examination of the renowned flower’s psychedelic effects.

“We had gathered to investigate an ancient mystery,” the narrator said, with a grandiosity fit for cringe-worthy ’90s documentary TV. “Is the blue water lily a lost drug plant once beloved by the ancient Egyptians? Could it be that today our two volunteers might step through a doorway and see the world as it might once have been seen in the time of the pharaoh?”

The cameras capture the scene as volunteers consume a substance, quickly becoming cheerful and playful. They put on coats and venture into the rain and woods, questioning if they are experiencing any effects. Observing from a distance, researchers discuss whether the participants are indeed under the influence and eventually conclude that they are.

This scenario intrigued McEvoy, particularly regarding the flower featured in the show. He was captivated by its historical significance and questioned whether these flowers were of the same species as those used in ancient Egypt—known for their distinctive spotted sepals and consistent petal count.

Delving deeper into his research, McEvoy discovered more about the Egyptian blue lotus’s cultural importance through academic courses and artifacts at Berkeley’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. As he learned to interpret hieroglyphs, he gained insight into how this flower was revered in ancient texts and its ceremonial role during the Hathoric Festival of Drunkenness—a celebration where participants would become intoxicated, lose consciousness, and upon awakening momentarily glimpse Hathor’s visage, symbolizing love, beauty, and fertility.

“It’s always depicted with the same petal shape,” McEvoy said. “It’s always depicted with the spots on the bottom of the sepals. It’s a very specific plant.”

As his research questions developed, he sought to determine if ancient Egyptian plants were the same as those available online and how different processing methods affected the release of nuciferine, a psychoactive alkaloid. His first step was finding a plant. The authentic Egyptian blue lotus is now rare due to the Aswan dam’s impact on its native environment and is threatened with extinction. Although the UC Botanical Garden offers many plants for study, it lacks the Egyptian blue lotus, and other botanical gardens couldn’t provide samples for his research.

In addition to studying the chemical properties of the Egyptian blue lotus, Liam McEvoy has studied ancient hieroglyphs, seeking patterns and meaning in the symbols. “I wanted to let the plant tell its story,” he said. Credit: Diego Moran/UC Berkeley

He turned to Reddit, contacting someone in Arizona who claimed to have authentic Nymphaea caerulea. Intrigued by his study, the user sent him a living plant confirmed as legitimate by botanists. He collected its flowers for analysis last summer, and the plant now resides in the Virginia Haldan Tropical House at UC Botanical Garden. McEvoy believes it’s the only university garden with a living Egyptian blue lotus. He also ordered dried petals from Etsy. With help from Berkeley professor Evan Williams and project scientist Anthony Iavarone, McEvoy used mass spectrometry to analyze both samples. They found much higher nuciferine levels in the verified blue lotus compared to the Etsy flower, suggesting online flowers are common non-psychoactive water lilies.

An online search for the Egyptian blue lotus reveals many sellers offering various products claiming authenticity: a $20 bag of petals promising sleep promotion and immunity boosts, a $90 option for heightened awareness and spiritual connection, and a $154 essential oil for sexual health. “The stuff being sold online is not the same… the blue lotus is actually unique compared to other water lilies,” McEvoy said in a press release.

McEvoy investigated whether the authentic plant’s psychedelic elements could be extracted by soaking in red wine. Pure nuciferine dissolves easily in alcohol but not from a waxy flower. Instead, it requires something like olive oil, with fats to dissolve the alkaloid in wine fully.

“We’re beginning to think the ancient Egyptians didn’t just put it into wine,” McEvoy hypothesized. “They likely created an infused oil added to wine.”

McEvoy’s findings expand our understanding of ancient Egypt and modern lotus-laced supplements. Historically, oil and wine mixed with lotus flowers may have been used ceremonially, unlike today’s dubious wellness claims. McEvoy, set to graduate this fall in intellectual property law, aims to reconstruct how ancient societies lived by translating trade secrets from myths.

Last summer, Liam McEvoy harvested flower samples from an Egyptian blue lotus at the UC Botanical Garden’s recently opened Virginia Haldan Tropical House. McEvoy believes it’s the only university botanical garden in the country with a living Egyptian blue lotus. Courtesy of Liam McEvoy

“There should be someone who studies people as human beings,” McEvoy said. Before starting his career, he plans more experiments. In the coming months, McEvoy and colleagues will use liquid chromatography on flower samples to separate their chemical compounds for mass spectrometry analysis—standard tests in analytical chemistry focused on debunking current online health claims. McEvoy also intends to revisit Egyptian artifacts at the Hearst Museum for further chemical testing on a 3,000-year-old goblet.

This could reveal traces of fat molecules or even plant remnants, supporting the idea that rituals involved more than just wine with lotus flowers. McEvoy views his work as merging ancient magic with modern science to enrich our understanding of nature.

Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer